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[schmidtadventures18-blog]

  So a couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to fly to Sacramento to bid Greg’s baby sister “bon voyage” before she left on a church mission to Zimbabwe. Living in Arizona doesn’t permit us to see our families are frequently as we would like, so we try to find excuses to make the trek whenever we can.

This particular trip brought a lot of excitement. Flying on South West usually means sitting in some random seats towards the back of the plane, all because we usually forget to check in soon enough. We happened to luck out on both our flights to and from Sacramento... we got front row seats! This is a bigger deal for anyone like Greg, who is over 6 feet tall... More leg room without paying extra! Score! Equipped with good books, Dr Pepper, peanut-butter M&Ms and excess leg room, the trip could not have started out any better.

Being able to spend time with family and say our goodbyes with Rebecca (Greg’s sister) was just what the doctor ordered. Like we mentioned before, we don’t get to see family all that often. Sure we have friends in Arizona, but there is something to be said about the amount of love we have as one large giant family. Oh did we mention that Greg has 5 siblings 6 nieces and nephews and 30 cousins, most of whom were present during our weekend visit. 

One of our favorite thing to do while hanging with the family is to play with our nieces and nephews. Unfortunately only one nephew was present so we took advantage of our time and little Chuck probably had enough of us by the time we left.

One of our favorite things about being with family is that no matter how long it has been since we were last together we always just seem to pick upright were we left off.

So here’s to your future child... There are a lot more people waiting to meet you than just the two of us.  

[schmidtadventures18-blog]

There is new music in the Schmidt house!

For as long as we’ve been together, Greg has always talked about wanting to learn to play the ukulele. So for the past few weeks this is what our evenings have looked like: Greg with a new tab on his phone strumming away, while I sit across from him thinking how cute he is. Watching Greg pick up the ukulele so quickly has inspired Kate to get back into playing piano. Armed with musical flash cards, a keyboard and a captivated audience (a 15lb Pug), she spends her days remembering growing up at the piano. The Schmidt house these days is full of music. We are both rustier than an old beat up tractor, and more frequently than not we have to suffer the unpleasant noise of hitting a wrong note, but we continue trying. Music has always been important to us, and we finally made the decision to not just listen to good music but to make great music ourselves. 

Our life has been an adventure but we have missed out on a lot of opportunities because we never attempted to experience them. We chose to sit idle because of fear of failure or lack of confidence. Our infertility journey has taught us to grab life by the horns, and never miss a moment. This re-awakening of musical talent in the Schmidt home is just one more adventure we have chosen to never miss out on. 

So here’s to you, future child of ours, come join the Schmidt band. 

[schmidtadventures18-blog]

This year we got to go on a great adventure - a cruise to Mexico! After lots of saving, lots of planning, and as little packing as we could get away with, we were off. Here’s a recap of our family vacation:

Captain’s log, Day 1: Cruised out of Long Beach. We packed shorts and t-shirts, and froze in the Long Beach Harbor waiting to set sail. Luckily for us, there were an abundance of hot tubs aboard for us to thaw out in. 

Day 2: Quick stop in Cabo San Lucas. Not our favorite port, but the fish tacos were well worth the stop. After some shopping and Greg demonstrating his mad bartering skills (the perks of speaking Spanish), it was time to get back on board for an impromptu couple’s spa treatment. 

Day 3: Adventures in Mazatlan. We decided to explore the sites on our own by hiring one of the many open air taxis to drive us to the beach where we caught some sun and enjoyed the water. We then drove along the beach seeing the glorious coastline and taking in the sites of the town. To finish our adventure in the port we decided to hike to the highest operating lighthouse in the world (Kate did so in flip flops). The view was amazing and well worth the trek. 

Day 4: PUERTO VALLARTA! By far the coolest stop of the entire trip. While we never ventured into town we did go on a cruise sponsored excursion - the EXTREME Canopy Tour! We started by boarding a speed boat and then proceeded to head across the bay to a little town where we were picked up by a large truck and proceeded up into the mountains. As if we weren’t far enough away from the ship...we got on mules and continued a little further up the mountain. Finally at our ultimate destination we started soaring down the mountain over the canopy on 7 different zip lines, repelling down waterfalls, and even braving the sketchiest water slide you’ve ever seen (apparently the 2nd tallest water slide in North America). After it was all done we had a nice meal of...TACOS! We were sad when it was all over but at least we got to enjoy our ride back down the mountain and across the bay.

Day 5&6: Sailing home. The best part of a cruise is even on the boat there is never a shortage of things to do. We took in the comedy shows, laid by the pool, watched movies by the pool, read some good books, played cards and had some great food at main dinning hall.

Not all of family vacations will be this extravagant, but we always manage to have a good time together. 

So here’s to you, future child of ours...we look forward to you joining us on our next family vacation. 

[schmidtadventures18-blog]

Growing up in California and being transplanted into the valley of the sun (aka Phoenix), we rarely pass at the opportunity to support our team. Through proximity to the ball field and work perks we have been to our fair share of Diamond-Backs games and have become closet supporters, however our alliance will never falter for we will forever bleed black and orange. #GOGIANTS 

Even before dealing with infertility we found it important to set aside time each week for “date night”. Most dates would seem pretty standard but every so often you got to #treatyoself and we go to a Giants game, go on a hike, go to the fair, or a special dinner out. What we do isn’t always important but rather spending quality time together, even if that means walking around Costco sharing a delicious soft serve.

This same mentality of spending quality time together that has been a cornerstone of our marriage, we hope to enjoy with our future children. The activities we enjoy may change as the years go on but the habit of spending quality time together will never cease.

So here’s to you future child of ours... there will always be a seat next to us at the ball game.   

[schmidtadventures18-blog]

Let’s get this party started!

Hello all!

First official blog post! Since we are new to this party we figured it might be a good idea to introduce ourselves just a bit...

To sum up: We are down-to-earth homebodies who love being outside (oxymoron much?) We spend our time watching movies, playing card games (how old are we?), going on as many hikes as we can, taking our dog on walks, and we definitely enjoy good food, good music, and a good time. 

We live in Arizona but are originally from opposite ends of California. We met in college, fell in love, got married - just your typical Disney romance - and ended up moving to Arizona for work. After graduating college we decided it was time to start our family. Long story short, we struggled for a couple years to be able to get pregnant and came to the discovery that having children would be extremely unlikely. After a few months of grieving (and getting a puppy) we were able to enthusiastically embrace our new reality of growing our family through adoption. 

We have recently received our Home Study Certification (WOOP WOOP) and are beginning the networking process to be able to get in contact with an expectant mother.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a window into our lives to be able to better understand who we are as people without having to officially meet us - one of the great perks of technology (am I right?). We look forward to sharing this chapter of our life!